Page 29 of The Wrong Drive

I stifle a cry. “We’re not going to be able to outrun him. There’s no way. I don’t… I don’t understand him. But I think there’s something wrong with him, and I think...” My voice trails off as I put it together. “I triggered him,” I say softly.

“What the fuck did you do?” Adam snaps. “What did you do to piss him off?”

“I…I…” I can’t bring myself to say anything to him as his gaze bores into me. My mind replays the heated kiss, the way IwantedTurner more than I ever wanted Adam in that way. “I just?—”

Gunner bays, and I startle, realizing that he’s a lot closer than before.

“I’ll show the fucker,” Adam growls, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a pistol. “He’s not gonna get us, Em. I’ll shoot them both.”

I grab his hand, shaking my head. “I don’t think you understand. Turnerwon’tmiss. He shot my phone out of my hand in the middle of the blizzard.”

Adam curls his lip. “So you’re on a first name basis with this guy, huh? Kind of weird for someone who shot at you. My guess is you’ve been doing more?—”

“You’rereallygoing to point that out right now?” I exasperate, cutting him off. “I seriously thought the guy was easing up until…this.”

“Right,” he snorts, racking the gun and peering out from behind one of the trees. I stand close to Adam, who I always thought was a bigger guy—but he’s got nothing on Turner, who has to be three to four inches taller and wider. I wrap my arms around myself.

“Don’t shoot the dog,” I say quietly. “Please. It’s not his faul?—”

“Shut up,” Adam growls. “We’re getting out of here. Whatever it takes.”

I swallow hard, the cold seeping deep beneath my parka, chilling my bones. Tears brim my eyes, but for some reason, the feeling is a mixture of fearandgrief for whatever is to come. I peer up into the starless sky, wondering if there’s any way for this to end without bloodshed.

“So, your boyfriend is here, Em,” Turner’s graveled voice cuts through the night, echoing around us in a cold haunting tone. “Did you tell him what you did with me tonight? Before you went snooping though my house?”

“What’s he talking about?” Adam looks back at me, confusion in his expression.

“It was nothing,” I lie. “He’s just?—”

“What didyou dowith him?” Adam cuts me off, his voice breaking from a whisper. “Fuck him?”

“No, we just—we just kissed?—”

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Adam roars at me. “I fuckingbraved a blizzardfor you, and you were just fine, fucking some guy five seconds after we broke up. I knew you were like this. Iknewit.”

Guilt slams into my chest, and suddenly I feel horrible. “I’m so sorry. This has just been the weirdest?—”

“Shut up,” he seethes. “I know you’re a fucking whore, Em. You probably fucked more guys while we were together.”

“No, I didn’t,” I exasperate, my voice breaking with hurt. “I wouldn’t ever?—”

Gunner’s violent bay cuts me off and he tears through the thicket, barreling toward us.

“Fucker!” Adam shouts, raising his pistol. He goes for the trigger, and I shove his arm as it fires, the bullet burying into the ground. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” He yells at me as Gunner stands back a few feet, barking at us.

I open my mouth to say something, but the crack of a rifle silences me… And Adam instantly slumps to the ground, a clear hole right through his head. Crimson soaks the snow around him, and I stifle my scream, clamping my hand over my mouth. My vision grows blurry as I sink to my knees.

I’m next. I’m next.

I hear the crunch of boots in the snow and feel the hot breath of Gunner as he sniffs my head, as if he’s trying to check on me. I cover my face with my hands, unable to look up as I feel the presence of Turner looming above me.

“You didn’t even check him to make sure he was dead,” Turner chuckles wickedly. “Some girlfriend you are, huh?”

My numb hands feel like ice sickles to my hot tears as I wait with bated breath, hearing Turner roll Adam’s body. My stomach lurches violently as I steal a glance, Adam’s face already blueish, his eyes wide with death. Bile shoots up the back of my throat, and I heave, vomiting into the snow.

“Must be your first dead body,” he says flatly as he uses his boot to roll Adam back face down. “I’ll have to get the tractor to deal with this—and the jeep. What a fucking mess.” His tone is so eerily nonchalant that it feels unreal.

My heart pounds in my ears as I wait, my eyes squeezed shut and hidden in my hands again. Finally, I feel the barrel of the rifle dig into my upper back.

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